Making big yo-yo had its ups and downs

The world's largest yo-yo rests in a barn near Richwood in Union County while its creator looks for a buyer.

The world’s largest yo-yo rests in a barn near Richwood in Union County while its creator looks for a buyer.

Yo-yos weighing 4,620 pounds appeal to a small market.

“There’s a yo-yo collector in California, but how do you get it there?” said Beth Johnson, builder of the colossal toy.

The Guinness World Records people recently certified it as the biggest yo-yo on the planet, fulfilling a long quest that began with a medical scare.

Johnson, who works with husband Tony in their heating and air-conditioning business, developed breast cancer in 2001 and underwent surgery and chemotherapy.

Afterward, she said, “I decided to do something — something that would get my name all over the world.”

Johnson has always had an interest in yo-yos and the making of things. So, eventually, she hit on the idea of making the world’s biggest yo-yo.

Her yo-yo — 11 feet 9 inches in diameter — is built of small pieces of lumber cut in a curve and attached to one another to form increasingly larger circles. The center dowel was made of oak by an Amish carpenter.

Building a yo-yo is one thing. Satisfying the Guinness requirement that it actually work is something else.

No central Ohio crane companies were willing to risk their equipment on a yo-yo test. But a relative of Johnson’s found a crane company in Jacksonville, Fla., that was agreeable.

The Johnsons towed the yo-yo there three times in about a year, but every attempt failed. On one, the thick nylon rope broke and the yo-yo fell 40 feet and was damaged.

After repairs, the Johnsons made a final attempt — in September at Dixie Crane in Cincinnati. Video shows the yo-yo rotating up and down on its rope several times, just as a toy model would. Mrs. Johnson had her record. (See the video by searching “Whoa-yo Beth Johnson” on YouTube.)

The experience was bittersweet, she said: Just a few days before, Donald Sprague — her father and faithful booster — died of heart disease.

“He was right behind us the whole way,” Mrs. Johnson said.

(That loss has launched another family quest: Her daughter, Monica, of Columbus, plans a cross-country fundraising bike ride in his honor. Visit www.gofundme.com/donaldspraguememorialride.)

The yo-yo project, Mrs. Johnson said, cost thousands of dollars.

She has rented space for the yo-yo in a barn near Richwood, about 50 miles northwest of Columbus, while she seeks a buyer.

Meanwhile, she is eyeing the record for the world’s largest skateboard.